LS-TRIPLETALAQ-2ND LD DEBATE

A united opposition in the Lok

Sabha Thursday pitched for referring the triple talaq bill to

a 'joint select committee' of Parliament, claiming its

provisions were unconstitutional and that there was a need for

a greater scrutiny of the draft law.

As soon as the House met at 2 pm after an adjournment

to take up the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage)

Bill, Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge,

demanded it be referred to a joint select committee of

both Houses for greater scrutiny.

He said several provisions of the bill were

"unconstitutional".

AIADMK leader P Venugopal, TMC's Sudip Bandhopadhyay,

AIMIM's Assaduddin Owaisi and Supriya Sule (NCP) also made

similar demands.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said a similar bill was discussed

and passed by the Lok Sabha and therefore members can flag

issues during the debate.

She said all of a sudden a demand cannot be made to send

it to a committee.

Speaking in the house before moving the resolution, Law

Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the triple talaq

bill, which seeks imprisonment for Muslim men accused of

instant divorce, is not about politics but empowerment and

justice for women.

Responding to demand of opposition parties, including

the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, that the bill be sent

to a select committee for study, Prasad said the government

has already taken note of concerns expressed by members

earlier and amended the bill accordingly.

Prasad told the Lok Sabha that the bill has made the

offence compoundable, meaning that the case can be withdrawn

if the man and his estranged wife reach a compromise, and that

only the wife and her close relatives can file an FIR, ruling

out the law's misuse.

"Don't weigh the bill on the scales of politics. This

bill is not about any specific religion and community. The

bill is about humanity and justice," he said, urging lawmakers

of different parties to speak in one voice to support the

legislation.

He said as many as 477 cases of triple talaq have been

reported since January 2017 and cited a case where a professor

gave talaq to his wife over Whatsapp.

Whereas another muslim man gave talaq to his wife for

attending the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally, the Union

Law minister said, urging if the house unitedly can pass a

bill for capital punishement for alleged rape with girls below

age of 12 years, then why not this legislation.

Moving his statutory resolution opposing an ordinance

issued earlier (which the bill seeks to replace), N K

Premchandran (Revolutionary Socialist Party) said the bill is

bad in law as it seeks to criminalise a "civil wrong" and

hence it should be referred to a select committee.

Opposing the Triple talaq bill in its current form,

Congress MP Sushmita Dev Thursday said in the real purpose of

the bill was not to empower Muslim women but to "penalise"

Muslim men.

Demanding that the bill be referred to the joint select

committee of Parliament, Dev said criminalisation of triple

talaq goes against the Supreme Court verdict.

"In the name of empowerment you (the government) have

given nothing but a criminal case to women...the aim of the

bill is not to empower Muslim women but to penalise Muslim

men," she said.

The fresh Bill to make the practice of triple talaq among

Muslims a penal offence was introduced in the Lok Sabha on

December 17 to replace an ordinance issued in September.

Under the proposed law, giving instant triple talaq will

be illegal and void, and will attract a jail term of three

years for the husband.

The fresh bill will supersede an earlier bill passed in

the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha.

The earlier bill was approved by the Lower House.

But amid opposition by some parties in the upper house,

the government had then cleared some amendments, including

introduction of a provision of bail, to make it more

acceptable.

However, as the bill continued to face resistance in the

Rajya Sabha, the government issued an ordinance in September,

incorporating the amendments.

An ordinance has a life of six months. But from the day

a session begins, it has to be replaced by a bill which should

be passed by Parliament within 42 days (six weeks), else it

lapses.

The government is at liberty to re-promulgate the

ordinance if the bill fails to get through Parliament.

Citing details of instant triple talaq cases, the

government had last week informed the Lok Sabha that till now

430 incidents of triple talaq have come to the notice of the

government through the media.

Of these, 229 were reported before the Supreme Court

declared triple talaq as unconstitutional, while another 201

came to the notice after it.

These cases were reported between the period January

2017 and September 13, 2018.

Four hours have been allocated to discuss the bill.